Daughter of Shale and Eyes High
by Arwen Imladviel
Summary: Alternative universe what if Skywise had been a girl? Of course she would Recognize Cutter... but she would still be Fahr. Stargazer. Warrior. And absolutely crazy about joining! 8 chapters now...
1. Prologue

_This one is dedicated to Kathleen, the Muse of Fluffy-Cute Fanfics, and Wingthing, Chieftess of the Alternaverse, in gratitude for inspiration._

**_Daughter of Shale and Eyes High_**

**Prologue**

Skywise stared at the cub she had just saved from a snake. She felt strange. It was as if she was somehow bound to the newborn Blood of Ten Chiefs. She had never felt so close to anyone in her young life. Not even her mother, of whom she had but as hazy memory. Not any of the tribe, who had all been like parents to her. 

Joyleaf noticed the girl staring at her and the cub.  
"Would you like to hold him, Skywise?"  
"Yes. Thank you." And she held him in her arms, and her heart sang of love. He was a tiny little creature, eyes closed, tiny hands fisted. And he lay there so content, not crying for his mother. Joyleaf seemed to notice that.  
"You're holding him just right, exactly as I was going to tell you to. You will be a good mother someday."  
A mother? She? Not yet.  
"I would rather be – a sister." 

Later the cub was welcomed to the tribe, and Bearclaw told tribe name would be Cutter. And they all howled for the Blood of Ten Chiefs. 


	2. Dreamberry Love

**Chapter One: Dreamberry Love**

"Skywise!"  
Puckernuts! The stargazer thought. She loved her brother, yes, but lately she had begun to appreciate other, more mature company. The age difference between them had never seemed so great. She was a maiden now, he was still a child.   
"Hey! Did you forget me?"   
"Heh heh… no, Cutter! How could I forget my own shadow!"   
She bent down to explain:   
"But Pike and I have a long way to go, and Starjumper's rump is sore. He can't take extra riders."   
Skywise placed her arm on Cutter's shoulders:   
"Now, don't tell anyone… especially Bearclaw! This is a secret hunt! I'm after the most delicious prey there is!"   
"Don't worry, Skywise! I won't tell! You'll see!" Cutter called as he ran back towards the holt. 

"Delicious prey…?" Pike asked, grinning. "Wait 'til you see my lure!" 

Skywise had found the place by change, when she had been tracking a buck her arrow had wounded some nights ago. She'd caught the buck eventually, but what she had scented on the way was even better than the kill. 

Pike's mouth hung open when he saw –   
"A field of dreamberries!"   
"Farther from the holt than we've ever gone, but worth the risk, eh?"   
"As if you had to ask!" Pike tumbled headlong into the bushes. Skywise giggled and followed, landing in his arms. 

They fed ripe berries to each other and kissed between the mouthfuls.   
"Well, the prey is down, my sweet huntress. What now?"   
"As if you had to ask."   
They began to undress each other. 

A moment later Skywise straightened her back, sitting up from the bushes.   
"Mmmm… oh… oh, lovemate…!"   
Joining was such pleasure, she would never tire of it. If it took dreamberries to get her lovemate in the mood, well then dreamberries he would have. 

She opened her eyes, and it took a moment to realize what she was seeing.   
Pike! There's a human!   
We'd better run! He answered, fumbling with his belt.   
Wait! Let's take a closer look!   
Bearclaw won't like this! Pike objected, but followed his lovemate.   
Bearclaw thinks we're fishing in Goodtree's Glen!   
The human was doing something with some stones arranged in a circle on the ground.   
Skywise! Around his neck – the ornament Eyes High once wore in her hair! 

That did it. Something snapped inside Skywise and she cried out:  
"Killer!"  
Sword flashing, the daughter of Eyes High rode Starjumper to revenge her mother's blood. She was too angry to be afraid, too angry to remember Bearclaw's rule about lifebearers not risking themselves in battle. Pike followed, spear in hand, but Skywise already had her blade at the throat of the human. She demanded to know how the human had got the ornament. The answer was something she would never have expected:  
You…! I know you!  
The human told an incredible story of how he had tried to help Eyes High, and how his brother had died for that. Skywise did not know what to think of it. She cut the string that bound the ornament around the human's neck, and left him trembling on the ground, hardly able to believe the white-haired demoness had not cut his throat open.   
Lovemate! Pike sent after Skywise, but she ignored him. Alone, she stood under the starlit sky, grasping in his hand the leather decoration that had been her mother's. And she mourned her parents all over again. 


	3. Eyes Meet Eyes

**Chapter Two: Eyes Meet Eyes**

It was a clear, sunny day, one of the first warm days that Season of New Green. Skywise found it hard to sleep. Something felt out of place, yet not exactly wrong. Different. As if she was someone else and not Skywise at all. As if she was dreaming and aware of it but unable to wake herself. As if she was drunk – but no, she hadn't touched Pike's dreamberries for days. She got dressed and climbed out from their den, leaving her lovemate asleep. On the branch she met Joyleaf, who was making a new flower garland to wear in her hair. Skywise did not know where the words came to her tongue, but she found herself asking:  
"Where's Cutter?"  
Joyleaf smiled, as if she knew a secret or something. Then again, Joyleaf often smiled like that.   
"He went to try his new bow. He said he couldn't wait until night. He won't be long."   
Skywise did not know why she was so glad her brother would be back soon. She did not remember ever having missed him so much, but she knew not why. There was nothing special to show him or tell him, nor any reason to worry. He was old enough to take care of himself now. 

Cutter did indeed return soon, with a freshly killed rabbit in his hand. Skywise climbed down to meet him. Cutter called out proudly:   
"I got him on my first try!"   
"Either the bow is much better than your old one, or you've finally learned to aim!"   
"Skywise…" Cutter walked very close to her. Suddenly he drew his knife and cut something loose from the insides of the gutted rabbit.   
"The meat goes to Moonshade and Rainsong, naturally." He said, referring to the two lifebearers.   
"But I would like to give you this." He held out the still-warm heart of the animal.   
Skywise reached out her hand and took the strange gift. Usually, the heart was given to a lovemate. But of course, Cutter did not have one yet, so he had to make do with a sister. And what was that nervous scent Skywise sensed from him? Of course. She should have guessed. He was about to ask for some favour or other, and the gift was meant to soften her. She met his eyes with her customary grin. 

And looked deeper than she had ever looked before. Straight into his soul. 

Tam?   
Fahr?  
Cutter stood back, startled. Then he caught her in a tight embrace. They stared each other for a long while, drinking in familiar features transformed by the force of Recognition. 

"But you are so young…" Skywise tried to protest.  
"I'm old enough." As if to prove it, she lifted her off her feet.  
"Whee!" 

Other voices joined Skywise's laughter. Joyleaf had woken everyone with a sending.   
"Well, strike me with skyfire!" Bearclaw exclaimed. "My cub is not a cub anymore."   
Joyleaf laughed and ruffled his hair:   
"Two turns from now we'll be grandparents. How does that sound like, Old Badger?"   
The chief found no answer. 

"The High Ones have truly blessed us," Rain the Healer stated.  
"First Strongbow and Moonshade will have their second go at it, then my little Rainsong goes and Recognizes Woodlock, and now you two."  
Pike and Redlance sat on a branch almost directly above Skywise and Cutter. If Pike meant to whisper, his voice was too loud for them not to hear it:  
"Cutter doesn't know what a striped buzznest he's stepping in. He is going to be nutmash. Totally." 

Tam, what about Pike? He's my lovemate. Could we…   
Tree with him? Of course. 

Skywise looked up and called out:   
"You won't be off the hook so easily, Pike! Would you like to tree with us?"   
"Thank you, but no. Not right now at least. The High Ones know I need some rest!"   
Skywise laughed. 

Cutter was beginning to feel a bit apprehensive of the whole Recognition thing. Maybe he's been just a bit too hasty to assure her of his maturity? Everyone knew about Skywise and her love of sharing. Cutter had heard she'd been with half the male wolfriders, at least, and some of the females too. And what they said of her seemed to suggest she had quite and appetite for joining. Cutter had loved her all his life, first as a sister, and recently he had started to see her in a new way. He had almost decided he was going to ask her to initiate him. That was why he'd given her the heart of the rabbit – the rabbit! He'd forgotten! 

"Rainsong! Moonshade! I brought something for you!" He lifted up his kill.   
"Keep it, Cutter!" Moonshade called back. "Maybe she isn't a lifebearer yet, but she will be, and you'll be too busy to hunt tonight!"   
"Yes, you'll need the meat more than we do," Rainsong agreed. "Isn't Recognition wonderful?" 

Skywise sensed that Cutter was worried.   
Tam? What is it?   
I'm afraid… I mean, I have never…   
Don't worry. What was before is past. This is now. This is Recognition.   
Oh, Fahr… He embraced her once more.   
Come. 

Skywise led the way to her den. It was the highest in the Father Tree, closest to the stars, and it had belonged to her mother. She loved living up high of course, but for once she wished the climb had been shorter. She was burning, she was aching - she had never felt such a desperate urge for joining. Always, it had been her choice, but now Recognition had made the choice for them both. She had never given much thought to the whole idea. It was something that happened to others. She had smiled, listening to Nightfall and Dewshine whisper about who they would like to Recognize when they grew up, and all she had thought was she couldn't choose, she dreamed of everyone, and she had wished the others luck and asked if they would share. 

Now she was in her den, and she sat on the soft furs and began to undress. First she took off the headpiece, a gift from Cutter some turns ago – although he had thought she'd wear it behind her ears as a hair decoration. Then the wristbands, those too resembling armor more than decoration. The other females had often wondered why someone so obsessed about the males didn't pay more attention to her looks, but the truth was, Skywise had a secret dream. No matter what Bearclaw said, one day she would be a warrior. The humans would not catch her helpless like her parents had been. Now, though, she was not thinking about those dreams. She undid her belt and threw it and the sword attached to it into a dark corner. Cutter was watching her. As she bent down to take off her boots, Cutter reached out and helped her. And then he helped with the rest of her clothes, and she with his. 

Skywise had thought she knew all there was to know about joining. But she was proved wrong. Nothing, nothing she had ever experienced could compare with the intense, wild magic that was Recognition. It was fire and it was ice, it was the wolf in her in heat, it was the voice of the High Ones singing in her blood, weaving a spell. There was no choice, and although she loved Cutter, this had nothing to do with love. It felt – it felt as if the stars themselves had come down for her! 

And a fear of loneliness she had never admitted having was gone once and for all. As long as she had Tam, she would never again be alone. 


	4. Madcoil

**Chapter Three: Madcoil**

It was just a hunt, she had said, and her belly hadn't swelled yet, it wouldn't be in the way. The cub had just begun, she wanted to take part in one more hunt before she would be forced to hole up back at the Holt with the other lifebearers. It was just a hunt, and anyway Rain the Healer was coming with them. Skywise had pleaded, first with Cutter, then with Bearclaw, until they had agreed to take her along. 

And of course when they sensed the strange scent and felt the terror in the air, it would have made no sense to send her alone back to the holt. Surely she was safer with all the hunters? 

But it would turn out that no one was safe that night. Rain the Healer was the first to die. The monster attacked wolf and elf alike, and with one slash of a huge paw it threw Skywise down before she had time to escape. 

She fell on rocks, and the pain was unbearable. The monster was in her head, it could send, but that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was the faint and wordless sending, first inside her, then, horribly, nowhere, out in the air - the last caress of the spirit of her unborn cub as it died and left her. It was with her just long enough for her to learn that it would have been a daughter. 

"Run! Run for your lives!" Bearclaw commanded. Skywise couldn't even walk, so Cutter carried her and helped her into a tree. Voices around them called for Brownberry, Longbranch, and Foxfur.   
Fahr? Are you all right?   
Tam… Oh, Tam! Our cub… is no more. I felt her die.   
Cutter wrapped her in a tight embrace, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. Then they heard Bearclaw's anguished voice:  
"Joyleaf!"  
"Answer us, sister!" Treestump added his voice to the call.   
When no answer came, Bearclaw climbed down and stood still a long time, sending. 

Go to him. Skywise knew what Cutter wanted. Joyleaf is my mother, too. She would not say "was". Not before it was certain. The thought was too terrible. Wasn't losing one mother enough? 

Apparently not. There was no measure, no limit to the pain Madcoil had brought. Joyleaf was gone. Bearclaw wanted to revenge his lifemate, and he wanted to go alone. The others objected of course, but he drew New Moon and made it a matter of challenge.   
"Who wants to cross me? You, One-Eye? Treestump?"  
A new day was dawning. Skywise had gained enough of her strength to stand on her own. She could hardly believe her ears when Cutter spoke:  
"The others must go back, I agree! But I'm coming with you! You can't stop me!"  
He had never defied his chief before. To everyone's surprise, Bearclaw didn't object. He turned to track the beast, while Cutter held back a moment longer. 

"Treestump… If we don't come back, you are chief. Take the tribe far away from here. Bearclaw and I want you to live – understand?" Then he turned to Skywise.  
"That includes you too. Don't come after us, no matter what. I have to know you are safe."  
"Oh, lifemate! Timmain keep you!"  
She had never called him lifemate before. She knew if she embraced him now she would never be able to let go. So she just stared at him, and after him, until One-Eye had to take hold of her shoulders and turn her to the path towards the Holt. 

Days went by. The lifeless remains of the unborn cub left Skywise's womb with more pain than an actual birth would have been. Moonshade had scolded her first, for going on the hunt, but at last she too could only pity the stargazer. She was a shadow of her former self, refusing to eat until Clearbrook forced her to. 

Then the summons came. The wolves howled a message from Cutter, and no-one questioned when Skywise declared she would go with the others. 

Cutter sat on a stone in the middle of a glade. He did not answer Treestump's greeting. Skywise ran into his arms. They had no words, not even a sending. Skywise sensed his sorrow was even deeper than before, and stood back, waiting. 

Treestump spoke, explaining they had left Woodlock to guard the lifebearers. Cutter interrupted his babbling:  
"Bearclaw's dead!"  
There was a moment of silence. Too much sorrow, Skywise thought, all too much. 

Treestump took out a bit of leather cord and tied the chief's lock in Cutter's hair.

"What is your will, my chief?"

Skywise stared at her young lifemate. He seemed older, suddenly. Stronger. She tried to tell herself it was just a bit of leather in his hair, that nothing had changed – but she knew her whole world had changed, and herself with it. 

Cutter answered Treestump's question:

"Madcoil can be killed. Bearclaw wounded it! But he was wrong to think he could destroy the monster alone! I promised Bearclaw I'd finish what he began – but I need all of you to help me."   
Then he did something Bearclaw had never done. He asked them:   
"Will you?" He could have commanded them, but he didn't. And with that choice he won them over. 

They tricked Madcoil from its den and caught it in a net, and Cutter stabbed it right through the eye. Skywise watched, heart racing, as he used himself to bait the monster. She loved him with all her heart, but watching him that day she learned to truly respect him, too. 

Three turns later Recognition reinforced its hold on them, sudden and undeniable. But no new life began, and Skywise learned the full depth of the wounds Madcoil had left in her. She would never be a lifebearer again, at least not while they had no healer. 

After that revelation, of course, there was no reason to keep her from fighting the humans. Cutter was surprised and a bit scared of the wrath his lifemate felt towards them. 

_to be continued... please review! _


	5. Desert

**Four: Desert**

The humans had burned the Holt, and the only escape route was through the troll tunnels. Unfortunately Greymung had cheated them and they were left stranded in a blocked tunnel, in a schorched, lifeless wasteland under the burning sun. 

Quite by chance Cutter and Skywise found the magic hidden in the lodestone, and decided the direction it pointed - right towards the burning waste - must be a sign. And once night fell, they left the shelter of the cave-mouth and began the long journey. 

And finally, after three nights, after the loss of two wolves and the painful decision of leaving Redlance and Nightfall behind, they reached the mountains. Strange plants grew in the shadows, plants all covered in sharp spikes. One such stung Cutter as he walked past, and being tired, he lost his temper once again and cleaved it in two with New Moon. And to his surprise saw the blade was wet. 

Pike laughed:  
"Leave it to Cutter! He found us plants that store their own water!" 

Skywise bent down to drink. Then she saw Cutter wasn't drinking, he just sat on a stone, staring into emptiness. She filled her palm with the sticker plant's juice and offered it to her lifemate.  
You did it, Tam! You brought us to Sorrow's End.  
He reached out to touch the lodestone, which once again hung on its cord between Skywise's breasts.  
"Seems to me we wouldn't be here without you, and this. But we aren't all here."  
"Stop blaming yourself! It was a human that wounded Redlance. A human. One more life for them to pay."  
"I hope we're done with humans." Cutter sighed, and added silently:  
I'll stop blaming myself if you'll stop blaming yourself for what Madcoil did to you! You've shown your worth to the tribe now, lifebearer or not. And I need you. I love you.  
Lifemate… 


	6. Raid at Sorrow's End

**Five: Raid at Sorrow's End**

"Rayek, stop that! You're making me spill the water!" The healer was starting to lose her patience.  
"How long will you torment me, oh hair of sunset fire? I have asked you to be my lovemate! Any maiden here would say yes!" The hunter let go of her.  
"So go and take any maiden! Stop bothering me. I'm not interested. Which of those words you don't understand?"  
"But you are the only one worth having."  
He wrapped his arms around her, too tight. It had been a mistake to share with him. He hadn't been interested when it had mattered. Not all the long years she was growing up, and growing up to admire him. Not when she tentatively asked for initiation. His brusque refusal had hurt her, but those wounds were long since healed. No, what really hurt her was he had turned to her only when her healer talents finally matured and she cured his arm, and even then only because initiation with a healer might heighten the changes of Recognition. Only because he so desperately wanted to Recognize Leetah. But soon Leetah was forgotten as she had done what she was famous for - given freely, all of herself, using her healing powers during a joining, sharing with him what she had felt for him when she was younger. Rayek wanted more. For a while it had been fun, but he had been just one of her many friends to her, freely sharing. But he didn't like it that way. He wanted to be her one and only lovemate. 

Too bad the childish crush was gone. She had seen him for what he was, an arrogant one, wanting her for her magic and not for herself, a proud one unable to understand there was something in the village that was not his, that would never be his. And she had learned to despise pride. 

"Oh! You're holding me too tight! Let me catch my breath - and I'll give you an answer!"  
"Very well, then… I release you!"  
She ran away laughing, clutching the water jar without spilling a drop.  
"Wha-! ShenShen!"  
He called for her, too proud to run after her. 

Then she heard the horrible noise. The howling. And a pack of wolves flowed down the hillside into the village. Each shaggy beast was ridden by a pale barbarian, each rider wielded a weapon, and from the throats of both mount and rider the horrible sound came forth. 

The first rider, a fair-haired youth, threatened ShenShen with a curved blade and grabbed the water jar from her hands. The second one, a silver-haired female, bent to stab a loaf that had been in Minahd's lap a moment ago. The frightened baker screamed in terror. 

But the third rider stopped in front of ShenShen, while the others spread out to steal more food. By then Rayek had come to her aid, pointing his spear at the attacker. 

He had a spear as well, and he made a stab that turned out to be a feint - as Rayek twisted his weapon to deflect the blow the wolf stepped closer and the rider kicked him in the face. "Never point a weapon, black-hair, unless you know how to use it!" 

ShenShen stood defenseless now, too scared to move. But the stranger did not attack. He stared her right into the eyes. 

His skin was pale, burned by the sun. His hair was red as fire, shaggy like a mountain lion's short mane. And his eyes were a clear, deep purple. 

ShenShen had never looked so deep before into any pair of eyes.  
"Wh-what do you want?"  
For answer he grabbed her, swung her across the back of it and carried her away. She screamed as loud as she could, and heard Rayek calling her name. 

The fair-haired youth howled, raising his sword. The other savages came to him, ShenShen's captor among them. 

The silver-haired girl smiled at him and said:  
"Uh… excuse me, Pike, but it doesn't look like you're carrying much water!"  
"Huh?" He seemed to notice the struggling ShenShen only then.  
"Oh… I'll explain later." 

They carried her up the hill, on to a relatively level landing. The pale people seemed to talk to each other without saying anything. ShenShen wondered if this was the "sending" her sister Leetah was so good at. They ate and drank of the spoils of their raid greedily. She saw the silver-haired one was the only female among them. That seemed strange. Was that why they had taken her - to have more lifebearers? Just as they had taken the food and water - because they were hungry and thirsty? Or had one of them sensed her healer powers somehow? Either way, it was a terrifying thought to have when captured and helpless. ShenShen began to struggle again. The red-haired male was holding a hand on her mouth and his other arm was around her. He was strong. He seemed to be mentally arguing with the fair-haired youth, who was obviously the leader of this ragtag band. ShenShen had learned a lot watching Savah teach Leetah. Expressions could tell as much as words sometimes. 

Her captor sat down, keeping a good hold on her, his hands on her mouth. ShenShen bit him. Soon he whispered:  
"Uh, listen… I'm going to take my hand away… but if you sceam - well, you won't like what will happen to you!"  
He moved his hand. ShenShen screamed.  
"Pike, you bird-brain!" The fair-haired youth snarled at her captor. The silver-haired girl stood up to defend him:  
"It was my idea, Cutter. Sorry."  
"Hmph! You and your ideas." 

Soon Rayek reached the top. The other strangers had concealed themselves among the rocks, ShenShen's captor stood alone, with her slung across his shoulders. He and Rayek exchanged some insults, then Rayek made a threat, and a spear-point touched his shoulder. The spear was the one her captor - Pike? - had been carrying, and it was now held by the silver-haired girl. Rayek was surrounded by the savages. The female reached for his spear:  
"Let's have the pig poker, long-face!"  
"You dare -?" Rayek used his power on her. The girl stiffened and stood unmoving, unseeing. 

The others wrestled the spear from Rayek and covered his eyes. He cursed, and happened to mention the name of the High Ones. The savages were surprised:  
"How dare you profane our ancient fathers?" The one called Cutter asked him.  
"We are all descendants of the High Ones, stranger! Can you not see we are all of one race?"  
ShenShen spoke up, still held by her captor. A lot of explanations followed both ways, although Rayek wasn't much help, since his pride had been injured. Finally some kind of truce was reached and ShenShen invited the savages to the village. They had to wait while four females and three children were fetched from some hiding place. 

The Sun-Touched welcomed the wolfriders, and accepted Cutter's apology. ShenShen admired how his father got their respect just by being what he was. Cutter suddenly spoke, interrupting him. It turned out they had left two of their number behind in the desert. He declared he was going back to them and asker if there was a healer in the village.  
"I am a healer." ShenShen said simply. Rayek argued that she shouldn't go, it wasn't safe.  
"I'll do my duty. You can come with us." 

They rode on zwoots following Cutter on his wolf. In the desert they found the wounded male and his lifemate. 

ShenShen had been surprised to find she longed for this to be over soon, so she could return to the village. Back to the one called Pike. Although another name sang itself in her heart, the name she knew not the meaning of. She knew the symptoms, having seen them often enough. Could it be - Recognition? If it was, there was no choice. After all, Recognition meant children. He might be a stupid savage, but if Pike could give her a child of her own, she would forgive him everything. 

Then she healed the one called Redlance. Touched him, formed a tentative connection with body and soul both - and she learned. About the wolfblood. About mortality. 

And she decided she had to fight Recognition. The alternative was too horrible - to watch her own children someday age and die. And the worst of it was she couldn't tell Pike why she was refusing him. It seemed his people had no idea of the curse they carried in their blood, and she wished them to remain innocent. So Pike would misunderstand her refusal, he'd think it was pride. 


	7. The Healing

The people of Sorrow's End were preparing a celebration to welcome the Wolfriders. ShenShen was practicing a dance with some of her friends. Skywise, when she found her, stood mesmerized, watching the graceful movements and the flowing veils. She had never cared much for making herself pretty, and now for the first time did she suspect she might have missed something.  
Finally she remembered what she had come for.  
"Healer?"  
ShenShen halted, then spoke to her friends:  
"Go on without me."  
Then she turned to the silver-haired maiden.  
"What is it? Is Redlance all right?"  
"Yes, don't worry, you mended him enough that he can mend himself. I've come to ask something for myself. A healing."  
"Yes?"  
"Some turns ago, our tribe was attacked by a monster born of foul magic. Madcoil. It slew six, among them Cutter's parents – and Rain the Healer. But the full count of lives lost was seven. It struck me down, and I lost the life I was bearing. And later I learned I had lost something else – I could not bear a cub anymore. And we had no healer. Can you help me?"  
"I'll try. Come."  
She took her into her hut and instructed her to lie down. 

"What's your name, by the way?"  
"Skywise."  
"And who's your lifemate? The one whose child it would have been?"  
She smiled when she answered:  
"Cutter. Our chief."  
"Why didn't he come with you?"  
"Because if I can't be healed, I don't want another disappointment for him. A pleasant surprise is much better." 

ShenShen touched her, joined minds in a way that resembled, but was not quite, sending. Soon she saw what was wrong. Like many of the worst ills, it was a small thing really, that was out of place and broken. Easy to mend. So she mended it. 

When she lifted her hands, Skywise moaned. She realized the Wolfrider had been biting her lip to silence herself.  
"Oww – that hurt, you know? Did you…?"  
"Yes. It is done."  
Skywise got up and took ShenShen's hand between her own two hands.  
"How can I ever thank you enough?"  
"No need, I just did my duty."  
"Well, you've earned my friendship, ShenShen. Now and for ever." 

But ShenShen didn't answer. Skywise thought she was tired from the healing. In fact, she was fighting back tears. How easily the wolfblood used words like 'for ever', totally ignorant 'for ever' was something she didn't have. 


	8. Challenge

**Chapter Seven: Challenge**

Days passed. Pike tried to court ShenShen with clumsy apologies and gifts. One afternoon he stood against the wall of ShenShen's hut.  
"Would you at least tell me why? You said you can forgive how I treated you – so I don't understand. Why refuse a truth we both know?"  
"I'm sorry, but I owe you no explanation."  
"In my tribe we don't play games with our hearts. We know –" 

Just then, someone grabbed Pike's shoulder. Rayek. He threw him to the ground and tossed a sculpted metal stick into the ground beside him. Then he was gone.  
"What's this?" Pike asked, puzzled.  
"A challenge wand! Rayek, you zwoothead! Well, go to Savah's hut, Wolfrider. The rest of us will be there soon." 

ShenShen sat between her parents, Pike and Rayek stood on opposite sides before the Mother of Memory.  
"Children of my children's children… hear now a chant that is older than old, and truer than truth itself… heart to heart are lifemates bound, soul meets soul when eyes meet eyes… maiden, amongst those gathered 'round stands your one love recongized? Speak his name and all is done! 'twixt these two you must decide! 'Nay' to both or 'aye' to one? Which of them must step aside?" 

ShenShen didn't waste time before answering.  
"Nay to both! Rayek, you don't have the right to make the challenge! Why would anything that has happened change my answer? And why would a contest solve the choice, if a choice there was? You think I care about winning and losing? All a trial would mean to me is needless hurts and bruises to be healed!"  
"Very well." Rayek left the hut. Toorah hugged her daughter. Pike stood silent only a moment. Then he spoke:  
"And what about me? What about Recognition?"  
"Leave me alone!"  
So Pike left, too. ShenShen's parents, unable to help her, went their way as well, hoping the Mother of Memory would offer some consolation. 

"Child, what is it? I sense no disagreement between the two of you. Why fight Recognition?"  
So she told her. About the wolfblood. Tears welled in her eyes.  
"But daughter, hasn't it occurred to you that you could change it? You, with your healer's touch, could remove death from your children's blood."  
"Could I?"  
"I'm quite certain you could. But I advise you to wait until your children are old enough to make the choice for themselves. What is burned away can never be given back. And the wolfblood gives many strengths, not just weakness."  
"Oh, Savah!" ShenShen buried her head in her ancient teacher's lap. 

She found Pike at the zwoots' drinking through. He was staring at his reflection in the still water glumly, perhaps wondering if it was his looks that repelled ShenShen.  
"Pike?" She smiled at him. He couldn't bear the gentleness in her eyes, and turned away. But ShenShen went to him and placed her hands on his arms from behind.  
"Behl?"  
He trembled as she embraced him.  
"Strange… now that I have said it aloud, I know what a soulname is, and what it means. Pike, Howlkeeper, son of Rain the Healer, all that you are is Behl." 

That night, the Recognition was answered. The following night there was a great celebration, and they were the centre of it. Best of all, perhaps, was Redlance's gift – the dreamberries. When nightfall had asked for the seeds Pike had supposed she would plant them in the gardens and let them grow slowly, just like the other plants the Sun Villagers used for food. But it turned out Redlance's treeshaping gift had blossomed at last. 

Rayek wasn't present at the feast. Some days later, after the wolfriders had saved the village from a stampede of zwoots, and ShenShen had saved Dewshine's life, Savah told them Rayek had left for good. But there were good news too – the day after the stampede Cutter announced there would be a cub, at last, for him and Skywise. 


End file.
